SETTING THE STAGE
Have Google open to the “account” page so that all your options are showing.
Have a list of all the participant's email addresses in advance for use during "Sharing" today.

Session Overview
In this session, participants will watch the instructor model a lesson where students would use Google Spreadsheet in an open forum to input data. After seeing how students might use Google Docs and Spreadsheets to enter information on a weather exploration, participants will collect and store their own data.

Focusing Questions
What are Google Docs and Spreadsheets?
How can I use Google Docs and Spreadsheets in a Weather Unit?

Framing the Session
“In our last session, we learned about the power of the Google Docs and Spreadsheets application. Today I am going to show you how to take sample information on a weather topic to create an interactive spreadsheet for the class to use to produce a Google Spreadsheet."

Teaching
“Watch me as I show you how to open a Google Spreadsheet." Once you have opened the main Google page attached to your account, click New Spreadsheet and create a new spreadsheet. Give it the title 'Weather Patterns'.

Next discuss with your students what information they will be collecting. As you tell them, set up your spreadsheet with a title on top reading “Weather Patterns Around the USA”. Then set up the rest of the spreadsheet with titles for each section that you want them collecting information for including sections for “Group Number”, “Focus Area”, “Weather Information”, “Forecast”, and “Reflection”.

The students are ready to go to Google Earth and collect information to put in the Google Notebook. In groups of two, they will be using Google Earth with the Weather Tool - Weather Bonk to find information about weather information in different United States cities. Students will have to open Google Earth and make sure they turn on the Weather Bonk application. Students will have to collect information on at least once city that has a “red” or “green” square and research the weather alert.

Guided Practice
“Have class particpants come up to the presenter device and have them type in their email address on the invitation section of the shared google document they will be using. By doing this, they will see how easy it is to invite others to become collaborators on a document."

WORK TIME

Getting Started
Tell participants what they will be doing during their work time, and how much time they have:

“Take the next 30 minutes to explore Weather Bonk and add information to our class spreadsheet. Go to Weather Bonk and explore. Using Google Notebook, record the information from several areas of interest. After particpants have collected their data, import it into the master spreadsheet. Have them enter their information by opening the document from the invitation. They can simply cut and paste right from my notebook into the appropriate cell on the spreadsheet. Once all the information has been entered, Save and Close”.

Remember, this is a living document that will keep growing as each person inputs their information. Once it is done, we can publish it so that anyone can see the information we have collected about “extreme” weather in various US cities. If you want to, at the beginning of the year, you can create a master spreadsheet and invite everyone to joint that one. You change and rename your original spreadsheet each time you use it without having to re-invite members each time. Once we have practiced using this Google Application, we will come back together and share.”

Participant Activity
Participants will...Step 1 – Open Google Earth and turn on the Weather Bonk application. Research a hot area for weather and record information into your Google Science Notebook.Step 2 – Once your collaboration invitation has been delivered, open the spreadsheet and enter your information.Step 3 – After you have entered your data, save your information by clicking Save or Save & Close.Step 4 – If you finish early, you can leave a discussion topic by clicking on the discussion tab and typing your topic.Step 5 – Discuss the results and share your thoughts about this powerful tool and how you might use it in your classroom.Step 6 - If time permits, create your own Spreadsheet or Document to use in your classroom. Upload them into your Google Docs and Spreadsheet account to gain practice in using the application.

Facilitator Conferring
Circulate around the room and confer with participants.
Watch the spreadsheet as participants enter their information.
Take note of particularly good examples of work that can be presented during the Share.SHARE(Typically lasts about 10–20% of session.)

Lead a discussion about how this work addresses the focusing questions and other ways that they might see using this process in their science classrooms.

What did you like about this living document?
How would you use this in your science classroom?
Do you see any potential problems in using this in the classroom?